Before Ted Kennedy’s Glioma, There Was Johnny Gunther’s

Malignant brain tumors such as Sen. Ted Kennedy’s are uncommon enough that they have received less attention in books than many other types of cancer. One exception to the pattern is Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther’s eloquent memoir of the death of his 17-year-old son, Johnny, from a fatal glioma diagnosed when he was in high school www.oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/. American views of cancer have undergone a sea-change since the book was first published in 1949. But this modern classic remains one of the finest accounts we have of the physical and emotional toll that a malignant brain tumor takes on patients, even those who might seem to have all the advantages.

It really is inspiring. And a part of me wishes that people hadn’t started to think of it as a book for teenagers (which it wasn’t in its day), because it has so much to offer — both to individual readers and to book clubs. Maybe your comments will encourage some reading groups to select it …